Whale & Wildlife Watching California

California is the best wildlife-watching state in the Lower 48, and most of the spectacle is seasonal and predictable. Gray whales pass Mendocino, Point Reyes and Point Vicente on a 12,000-mile round trip each winter and spring, while Monterey Bay's submarine canyon brings humpbacks and blue whales close to shore all summer. Piedras Blancas holds one of the largest elephant seal rookeries on earth, and Año Nuevo runs guided walks through the breeding season. Point Reyes has tule elk, Redwood National Park has Roosevelt elk, and Elkhorn Slough has the densest sea otter population on the coast. Condors fly Big Sur and the Sespe; a million birds stage at Mono Lake and the Klamath Basin; monarchs cluster at Pacific Grove; and Carrizo Plain, California's Serengeti, holds pronghorn and kit fox. Filter by species, viewing method, habitat and year-round access.